Mortality Gaps and Suburban Sprawl

Well this week I read an article from the library called "Is Sprawl Associated with a Widening Urban-Suburban Mortality Gap?" which, as the title suggests, presents the interesting finding that there is a mortality gap between suburban areas and thier urban neighbors with the severity of it de. The article said that urban areas have been found to have higher mortality rates than suburban areas nearby. It also suggested that this was likely caused by a greater exposure to environmental pollutions, social stress, infections, violence, and accidents. The author then revealed the fact that Portland, with its crackdown on sprawl, has reduced its overall mortality rates. This suggests that the efforts of Portland (and other anti-sprawl efforts) can have a beneficial effect on health as opposed to modern sprawl with its overall worse pollution. The article, in general, gives another reason why sprawl is bad.
-Evan